My Story

Gingi1

Well, I am not sure if I can call it a 'light bulb' moment, more of a 'I am so blinking angry with the banks I can't bear this anymore' kind of moment!

I am 33 years old and I have been in debt since I was 18. That's 15 years of minimum payments, consolidations loans, re-financing loans, etc,. Two years ago, it got to the stage that I could no longer meet my repayments. I was borrowing to pay debts and just sinking further and further into the mud.

Then I made (what I thought at the time) a good decision. I decided to deal with the debt.

I opened a simple bank account with no credit facility.
I took a loan for a credit card of £6000 and closed the card.
I called the bank and informed them that I could no longer make their payments and made an arrangement to drop from £289 per month to £170.
I called the Visa company and told them I could no longer make their payjments and made an arrangement to drop from £280 (minimum payment on £10,000 limit) to £130. I also made an arragement with them regarding my loan, payment of £296 to £130 (loan was a consolidation of a credit card which was never closed after the loan was taken out and I ended up using again to keep my head above water )

So to cut a very long story short (ish) I made all of these arrangements, put my head back in the sand and carried on with life, struggling, but managing to pay.

In August I began thinking about being debt free and decided to calculate how long it was going to take.

My loan for the credit card had four more payments and then it was finished :j (£6000 paid off in two years)
My bank have been charging me £70 interest per month :mad: I have paid off next to nothing.
My credit card have been charging me - wait for it - PPI - over £700 and interest so I am now in more debt than before.
My loan for the credit card which started out at £11500 is still over £10000 although I have made over £8000 worth of payments!

I have written to the bank and credit card complaining and have received their standard 'it's your fault !!!!!! off' replies, I am now going to the FO for advice.

I stopped making any payments (except the loan that is nearly finished two payments to go :j ) in September (in agreement with my creditors) whilst my complaint is processed.

My question(s) (finally I hear you say) is, is there anything else I should be doing?

Should I let them take me to court so that I can defend myself in court? I think that my story of enticement (always extending or sending a new card without my request) and of unfair charges (PPI) and of unfair practice (they gave me a consolidation loan, which should have closed my credit card. Two months later they sent me cheques for the credit card, which I stupidly used because I could see no other way of making my repayments).

I know that it is my fault that I am in debt and I am not trying to get out of it without paying, BUT I do feel that they have enticed me into debt from the age of 18 and that I have more than repaid my debt with hefty interest and PPI (on one particular loan over £3000 worth even though I had my own private policy)

What do you all think ? Any advice appreciated.

David_B_2

No expert so I'll leave it to them to advise you.

I will say banks are not stupid and even thou I DON'T agree with their workings he knew your weakest and by sending additional products/cheques etc you acted upon them and they won yet again.

All the very best and I'm wishing you well

It really cheeses me off to see people making the effort to sort their situation out only for the banks to do what they do and send more temptation. They soon complain when they don't get it back!

Don't give up and certainly don't let them win!!

mjdh1957

Don't have any advice but well done for getting angry and determined to beat the debts.

I'd recommend a visit to the CAB to talk to a debt adviser. They can tell you where to go to find the way out of your problems.

You've already taken the first step and admitted you have a problem, and that can be the hardest part.

Good luck!

taplady

I understand how you feel. We were in a similar position until we entered an IVA. This means we wont be paying all our debt back just a percentage and the rest is wiped off. I dont feel guilty about this at all as in all the years we have been struggling the banks and CC companies have had much more back in interest from us than we ever borrowed from them:mad:

I would suggest consulting CCCS as they offer free impartial advice and are excellent!

Good luck!

Richard_S

Hi Gingi1,

Haven't got much time for a reply and I'm sure you'll have had lots of advice before bed time. Some of the information you'll be asked for are things like,

1. your total debts, and APR's on each loan / credit card
2. do you own your own home and is there equity in it
3. post an SOA - a statement of your income and expenses on a monthly basis
4. do you live with a partner and are any of the debts shared

One piece of solid advice you'll receive is to organise all your statements and speak to CCCS or one of the other charities to see what options are open to you.

You're definitely in the right place to get things in order and your life back.

Regards

Richard

mizmir

Sorry to hear about your predicament. In my experience banks just love to extend debt. Has happened to me time and time again and it takes a lot of determination to resist (am doing it now! )

Experienced DFWs will advise I am sure - but on the PPI - I am pretty sure if you have not requested it you can get that back. They can't just add it without you knowing. I found that one of my cards had PPI (a box somewhere I hadn't ticked to avoid it) - I rang them up, told them I hadn't wanted it, got it cancelled and got a refund. Worth a try.

Gingi1

Thanks everyone.

I do feel strongly that I would like to defend myself in court against the debt - has anyone heard of this before?

mjdh1957

I think you'd be better off dealing with it before it gets to court to be honest.

The 'other side' will have solicitors working for them who know the law and you might be on your own.

Talk to the CAB for advice before it gets that far.

TTMCMschine

If it goes to court you will be expected to answer to the claims, & you wont get the opportunity to get on your soap box to complain about how unfair you think PPI, etc is. You will have to explain why you haven't been paying which is in breach of your agreement & you will lose.

If you want to complain about unfair charges & try & claim them back find the appropriate route & go down it, but don't be fooled into thinking that you'll be able to play the victim card in court & get the sympathy of the magistrates.

mjdh1957

I agree with TTMCMschine - a lot of people think 'having their day in court' is going to be a miracle-worker and it's not.

The judge isn't interested in fairness, he will look at the legality and if it is a legally binding contract then you are obliged to pay or come to an arrangement. And the costs of the court case will be added to your debt, so it's a lose-lose situation for you.

Sort it out before it gets to court. There's lots of advice on here about managing debt and coming to arrangements with your creditors.

Good luck!

Verbatim

have you cancelled the PPI and checked if you were mis-sold it?

Check out claiming back bank charges, (not interest charges).

Try to get the banks to freeze interest as of now and if poss' remove interest from the time you first contacted them stating you were having problems paying. In order to give yourself the best chance with this go through the CAB.

Good luck.